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PITTSBURGH -- This isn't the start the Steelers had in mind. They're not alone.

Misery has had plenty of company among NFL teams with high expectations this season.

Six playoff participants from 2012 are either 1-2 or 0-3 after Week 3, including the Super Bowl runner-up 49ers, who are 1-2 and have been outscored 84-44.

The Giants and Redskins, expected to battle it out for NFC East supremacy, are winless. And the Falcons and Packers, preseason favorites in their respective divisions, have two victories between them.

That's of little consolation to the Steelers, who are fighting their own demons for the second straight season.

They fell behind the Bears 17-0 and 24-3 Sunday night and, regardless of the outcome, were assured of waking up this morning looking up at the Bengals and Ravens in the AFC North standings.

That's not the view Steelers fans expected three weeks into the season, even in the wake of another rash of injuries that's already claimed center Maurkice Pouncey and linebacker Larry Foote for the year and kept rookie running back Le'Veon Bell on the sidelines.

The panic button doesn't get much use in Pittsburgh. You have to wonder if the thing even works. This is a proud franchise whose history hasn't been built on scapegoats and sacrificial lambs.

But that could change.

Head coach Mike Tomlin's job doesn't appear to be in jeopardy, but Tomlin seems to be running out of moves to find a quick fix for his struggling team. The Steelers haven't posted back-to-back wins since Weeks 9 and 10 of last season. They went into Sunday 8-11 in their previous 19 games, including the January 2012 playoff loss in Denver.

One move Tomlin could make -- and probably should make -- is to replace Todd Haley.

Almost since his hiring before the 2012 season, Haley has been coordinator non grata here.

His well-publicized dispute with Ben Roethlisberger months before training camp began was probably blown out of proportion. But where there's smoke there's usually fire, and there's little doubt the relationship between Haley and his franchise quarterback has been a slow burn.

The perception is that Tomlin acted rashly in cutting ties with Bruce Arians, under whom the Steelers had been a productive, if not particularly flashy, offensive team.

They ranked 12th, 14th, seventh and 22nd in total yards and tied for 21st, 12th, 12th and 20th in scoring in Arians' final four seasons.

Last season under Haley they were 21st in total yards and 22nd in scoring.

But in a league in which success is judged on wins and losses, not statistics, more damning is the Steelers' record since Haley arrived, compared with the 45-19 mark in the previous four regular seasons under Arians.

Excuses abound, including the horrible series of injuries along the offensive line, Rashard Mendenhall's spiraling decline from franchise runner to disposable part and the departure of Mike Wallace via free agency.

But every team deals with unexpected losses. The Steelers' one-time AFC playoff rivals, the New England Patriots, have experienced their own run of bad luck, including the absence of tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez and Wes Welker's jump to the Broncos. Yet there New England sits at 3-0.

After the Steelers fell behind 24-3 on national television Sunday night with a turnover-and sack-filled performance, jobs should be on the line this week.

Haley could be the first to go, and it will be hard to find anyone in Pittsburgh who would make a strong argument to save him.